Monday, November 02, 2015

Most Ridiculous Moment – November 1, 2015

It
was a savvy day on the Sunday talk shows, with much time devoted to
inside-the-beltway horse race gossip over whether Jeb Bush

is
finished, or if this is Marco Rubio's

moment, or if Bernie Sanders is
finally

taking on Clinton.

The
media's newest heartthrob, Marco Rubio, was on Face The Nation.
He was asked about his lack of experience, and said “Entitlement
reform is a huge undertaking.” Most of the rest of the interview
was about his missed Senate votes.

The
Face the Nation panel all but declared Rubio the nominee, with
Peggy Noonan saying of Jeb Bush, “He's got the wobblies,

I mean,
now and then, candidates just get wobbly.” The discussion then
turned to Noonan's new book, “a collection of her speeches and
columns,” and about the greatest speech she wrote, one for Ronald
Reagan after the Challenger disaster,

the highlight of which was a
poem written

by somebody else.

Jeb
Bush himself was on Meet The Press, where explained he let
Marco Rubio walk all over him because, “I got cut off. That debate
was a really weird debate just because you didn't get a chance to
continue on.”

He
defended his overall performance, saying “I can complete a sentence
in the English language pretty well,” and on policy said the
opposing or favoring the death penalty is not an either / or issue,
and said of President Obama, “We now have a divider-in-chief who
pushes people down that disagree with him.”

On
the idea that the invasion of Iraq led to the rise of ISIS, Bush said
“The better argument is the surge worked. A fragile Iraq existed.”
Bush said his father, former President

Carly
Fiorina popped up on ABC's This Week, to where she admitted she
“misspoke” about the President's employment record, but then
said, “this is what the liberal media always does, it attacks the
messenger trying to

avoid the message.”

Ben
Carson was on also ABC, where he complained about the debate
questions, saying “You know, you can spend forever combing back
through somebody's history and say, "In 1942, didn't you
say...?"

He
called for more armored brigades in the Baltic basin to show some
strength, and “a missile defense system in the eastern bloc of
countries,” to show we oppose Putin, and for US. policies to “keep
the oil prices down, which keeps him in his little box.”

He
also said the U.S. could collapse like the Roman Empire “by
allowing our populists to become enemies with each other, stirring

up
hatred and strife within our country.”

But
the most absurd moment came during the Paul Ryan's appearance on all
three networks. Ryan said even though he is now Speaker of the House,
“I'm going to keep mountain climbing. I'm going to keep camping.
I'm going to keep hunting.”

Philosophically,
he believes “I think big government displaces what we call civil
society. Big government makes it harder for communities to come
together and heal problems.” and called for a new tax code, a
replacement for Obamacare, and “to move people from welfare to
work, so that people can make the most of their lives.”

He
also said “I think it's time we take some policy risks by showing
people what we really believe, who we are and how we can fix this
country's great problems,” and “my job is to lead us to
consensus. And to, on big controversial issues, operate on that
consensus.”

But
amazingly, while said “I think it's very important that we do find
common ground where we can find common ground to advance the nation's
interest and do it in a way where we don't have to compromise
principle,” and said he endorsed immigration reform legislation
allowing for legal status,

he then completely rejected ever working

with the President on any bill addressing immigration.

Saying
“that is not in the cards,”, and “I do not believe we should –
and we won't – bring immigration legislation with a President we
cannot trust on this issue”, and “I think it would be a
ridiculous notion to try and work on an issue like this with a
president we simply cannot trust on this issue. He tried to go it
alone, circumventing the legislative process with his executive
orders.”

None
of the panelists on any of the shows took even the slightest notice
of this stance, with Matt Bai calling Ryan a conciliator.

So,
it's time for the Republican party to take policy risks, show the
people what they really believe, and to create consensus and find
common ground. Immigration reform, if brought to a vote, would pass,
and would be good for America, but Paul Ryan and the Republicans
won't work with the President of the United States, at all, because
he hurt their feelings, and they don't like him.